Victim of police officer shooting spree to sue Moscow authorities

MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti) - A man who was injured when an off-duty police officer opened fire at random in a supermarket in the Russian capital is to sue Moscow authorities for damages, his lawyer said on Friday.

On April 27, Denis Yevsyukov, 32, then district head of the Tsaritsino police department in southern Moscow, took a taxi to a local supermarket. He first shot the driver dead, before walking into the store and killing two more people. Six people were also wounded in the attack.

Yevsyukov was reported to have been involved in a family quarrel before the incident.

The $160,000 suit is to be filed by 18-year-old Ilya Gerasimenko, who was wounded in the head and stomach during the attack. He is still in hospital after doctors were unable to remove one of the bullets.

"On Monday we will seek damages in Moscow's Nagatinsky court," his lawyer, Igor Trunov, said.

Trunov could also defend the interests of the five other victims of the shooting spree, who are currently collecting all the necessary documents to file for damages.

The lawyer said that the suit would be filed against the Moscow city government and the Russian Interior Ministry as a third party. Under Russian laws, the Moscow government is obliged to pay for damages inflicted by a state employee in the capital.

The Moscow authorities, however, are refusing to pay damages, claiming that the Interior Ministry should bear responsibility for their officers' actions.

The Interior Ministry has already paid out compensation to the families of those killed in the attack.

On April 28, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the chief of the Moscow police, Col.-Gen. Vladimir Pronin, following the shooting spree.

Yevsyukov is in custody and awaiting trial.